Top Pick MWC 2017: The dialled back LG G6

With last year’s G5 the Korean company tried to shake things up with innovation, which faltered. Can the dialled back LG G6 bring the company back to mainstream?

Let’s face it – the LG G5 was a failure. When it was announced I called it the “most exciting phone in years” and couldn’t wait to get my hands on it and test the modular design. To me it was the first big change in the way we think about smartphones in a long time, hence the excitement.

The design and thinking behind it was flawed though, and after thinking about it for some time I realised that I had made a mistake. The build wasn’t great and you had to take the battery out to fit any other parts. Then, Motorola came out with a better modular design and I fully owned up to my mistake, saying explicitly “I was wrong! The Moto Z is the most interesting phone in years.”

So where are we now with the LG G6? Well, they have completely done a 180 degree turn and reverted to a more traditional smartphone and it might be their best move in years. While the design is closer aligned with others in the market, don’t mistake it for a dull phone. In fact, of all devices made public at MWC 2017 I think the dialled back LG G6 is the best of the bunch.

First of all, while I tend to like interesting and whacky designs, even though the G6 looks a lot more like its competitors than last year, it looks damn fine. It is almost entirely screen at the front, which we’ve been yearning for. The screen is also round at the edges, which blends in wonderfully with the natural curves of the device.

Another standout feature of the screen is that it has a brand new 18:9 ratio (can we please just call it 2:1 screen ratio?). This means the display is a lot taller in comparison to its width than on other devices, which makes for an interesting multimedia experience, but perhaps more importantly, you have more screen real estate to use Android 7.0 Nougat’s split screen functionality, easier on-screen typing and all other tasks where additional screen is useful.

This is also the first time LG has given us a device which includes proper water resistance, which most people are looking in their flagships these days.

Interestingly, LG have also used multiple types of glass on their various panels; this might not seems like an actual feature, but it means LG could do all the things mentioned above. On the front we have Gorilla Glass 3, which means it can be quite thin – lending itself to house the bigger display size. On the camera panel we have Gorilla Glass 4 to work better with the sensors while still be extremely strong. Lastly, the back panel is Gorilla Glass 5 giving you that protection you look for in a flagship phone – it’s the hardest one to crack or scratch.

While the features mentioned here might not seem like a massive leap forward, it brings LG firmly into modern smartphone battle. With a proper marketing campaign there is no reason this device can’t bring LG out of the doldrums it has seen in recent years.

What do you think about the dialled back LG G6? Would you consider buying it over its competition? Let us know in the comments below.